Monthly Archives: January 2013

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The end of January 2013 is finally here. How many of you are still going strong with your resolutions?

Personally, I’m not doing too hot. One of my resolutions was to start a classic novel from my 35 classics list I made two years ago. Instead, I chose to pick up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. (Which will be classic one day, so really, I’m just ahead of the curve!)

According to Forbes magazine, 4 out of 5 people who made resolutions will have already stopped trying to meet their goals by today. Which, unfortunately, includes me. But! have no fear! I am here to help!

1. Get your pen out.

What’s your goal? Lose weight? Drink more water? Whatever your goal may be, make a point to write them down. Trust me, it seems trite but it actually works! When I was 40lbs overweight and wanted to get fit, I wrote down all my goals: lose 40 lbs, be able to run a mile without stopping, stay under 1,500 calories Monday-Saturday. It was awesome because I had a visual reminder and I was able to measure each of the goals.

2. Make a plan of attack.

People who make goals are really good at sabotaging themselves. Especially when those goals are weight-loss related: “I’m too busy and tired to cook, I’ll just go to McDonald’s” or “Healthy food is so expensive!” If you know you’re going to get home late from work or school, its not a disaster; you can still have a healthy meal! Hormel® makes these great microwaveable main dishes and Green Giant® makes steamable veggie bags that are ready in minutes! In less than 20 minutes you could have a filling and healthy meal!

3. Every little bit helps.

Has anyone else seen the commercials that the state has been showing since the beginning of the year? Its all about “getting in your daily 30”– your daily 30 minutes of activity. Its so easy to get in 30 minutes of physical activity. You can park in the back of the parking lot at Wal-Mart, use the stairs at work instead of the elevator, or just take your dog for a walk around the block!

4. Reward yourself.

Keeping up with goals is tough and if you do well, you should reward yourself! Get a pedicure! Go get a massage! Buy that new sweater! Research shows that if you take the time to reward yourself for keeping up with your resolutions, you’ll be more apt to keep them in the future!

From the title, you may be a little terrified to read this post. I promise no stories about scary medical supplies, no disgustingly cute nicknames for Lady Town, and no metaphors about how its like car maintenance. That is not this kind of post.

Today was my first trip to the Baby Doctor. It was first thing in the morning, so if it went well, I’d be calm all day, and if it went bad, I wouldn’t feel guilty spewing morning sickness all over the office.

Huff the Hubs went with me, partly to hold my hand, and partly because I’d need a witness should they do something terrible to me.

It wasn’t bad at all. All I had to do was ask a bunch of questions and answer a bunch of questions about my medical history. And, since I was a good girl, Huff the Hubs took me to Sonic afterward. I know, I behaved nicely. However, I did learn some new things about pregnancy that I thought I’d share with you.

1. Don’t go sky-diving.

Evidently, you’re not supposed to jump out of a plane when you’re preggo. Huh. Who knew? You also can’t zip-line, scuba dive, or wrestle alligators. Guess I better rip up my application for The Amazing Race.

2. The first trimester sucks and makes you feel guilty for all the things you ever did to your mother.

You’re basically sick for three entire months. You also eat like a horse and have mood swings that make The Incredible Hulk look like Mother Theresa. I’m honestly contemplating buying my mother a yacht for all the shiz she had to endure. Totally surprised I didn’t come out of the womb grounded.

3. People will judge you for everything you do, say, drink, eat, or wear and make you feel like you’re going to be a terrible mother.(Don’t listen to them).

“Um, are you sure those tater tots are good for the baby?”

“Oooo, I notice you’re drinking Diet Dr. Pepper. If you drink that, your kid will come out shaking like a meth addict.”

“My brother’s friend’s counsin’s mother’s accountant said that eating hot dogs while you’re pregnant increases the likelihood you’ll have a boy. For real.”

4. Not all men are insensitive jerks when it comes to their pregnant wives.

Case in point: Huff the Hubs. He’s been my absolute rock and has definitely won Husband of the Year. I know its only been 8 weeks, but with the nausea and zapped energy levels, I’ve needed his support and loving attitude every single day. Each day he tells me how thankful he is that I’m carrying our baby (while cleaning the kitchen or cooking me breakfast. Yeah. He’s a keeper.). I think he’s saying that partly because he wouldn’t want to be the one to carry the kid. (Oh, how I wish we were seahorses…Sometimes.)

5. Don’t Google ANYTHING.

Seriously. Just don’t do it. I used to when I would think I was getting sick and it was awful. Made me into a hypochondriac. (Makes me think of that kid in The Switchtrailer.)

6. Don’t watch the video at the Lamaze class.

The nurse’s exact words? “If you take the Lamaze class, skip the one where they watch the video. Its like watching Jaws before visiting the beach.”

See? That post wasn’t bad. Although, brace yourselves. We never know what the next doctor visit could bring. I think I’m going to do some Googling…

Today’s Try It Tuesday is brought to you by the letter “S” as in sister. As in: my sister lovingly did a Try It Tuesday because I needed help. So I guess “S” could also stand for “save” as in “BB saved the day!”

Evidently, these are a healthy alternative to fries! Crispy, baked cauliflower!

The recipe is pretty simple too! All you have to do is preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prep your cauliflower by washing and chopping the cauliflower:

After that, mix olive oil, salt, and pepper into a bowl. Place the cauliflower (and broccoli, like BB did) onto your baking sheet and drizzle over the veggies:

(Did you see BB’s cute toes?)

Bake the cauliflower for about an hour, turning three times during baking. Make sure each piece has a nice brown color–the browner the better. They’ll be crispy like fries! When they’re done, take them out and serve:

Nom, nom, nom.

I tried these when she made them and let me tell ya, they were YUMMY! Nice and crispy like fries and super healthy too! Everyone loved them. Especially Huff the Hubs. I thought he and BB were going to arm-wrestle for the last one!

Even though I’m on Goodreads, I hardly ever get on there. Mostly because I forget about it and also because I figure I can tell you all on here what I’m reading and what I think about it a lot faster than going through all the rigamoro on GR.

I’m currently reading five books with a hope of throwing in a sixth. Granted, I’m not reading these books every day. I’ll read one for a while, set it down and then later in the day, pick up another.

Seeing as how this is my first pregnancy, I felt like I needed to read this book. I have a lot of questions, and, for some reason, women who have had babies all say “its just such a magical time” and gloss over everything else. Sorry ladies, but I need to know the gory details. Enter What to Expect. Which, now that I’m reading it, I equate it to googling “headache” and ending the evening thinking you have cholera or mad cow disease. They have questions from real women and each one makes me think my baby is going to come out looking like something from the cover of The National Enquirer. Needless to say, this book has been tucked away for a while.

“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.”

When I first saw this devotional at Mardel, I was super excited. A new devotional and it incorporates Jane, my authoring idol? Yes, please! The devotional has an excerpt from an Austen novel, with an accompanying devotional, touching on a central idea (i.e., pride, prejudice…you get the picture). Its…okay. I mean, I like the excerpts but I feel like the devotional lacks the depth that I need. I don’t need the Fordyce’s Sermons by any means, but I need a little more than: pride is bad.

I first saw this on Think Geek and thought it looked funny, chuckled to myself and then searched for more Doctor Who shirts. But when I went to the library, I knew I had to check this book out. I am SO glad I did! With all the serious books out there about pregnancy, this is a refreshing (if also sarcastic and snarky) take on child-bearing. Huff the Hubs and I love to read quotes from the book to each other. One of my favorites: “Question: How can I be sure I’m pregnant? Answer: Torso swells gradually until baby falls into underpants.” I also found the picture of giving birth, complete with rainbows and unicorns coming out of the woman’s downtown, to be froth with humor.

I’m currently re-reading the Harry Potter series and I finished Order of the Phoenix Saturday night and immediately picked up HBP. As I read these books for the third time, I’m still in awe at all of the little nuances and “clues” Rowling has hidden throughout its pages. Seriously, in the first chapter of the first book, Sirius Black is mentioned. He doesn’t come in to play until book three! And, in Order, just in passing there’s mention of a locket. True HP geeks know the locket of which I speak and its importance to the resolution of the series. If you’re not an HP geek, stop what you’re doing and pick up book one. You’re welcome for now making you love reading and making you a hermit for the foreseeable future.

When I saw this book on the shelf at the library, I thought it would be perfect for Huff the Hubs and I. Mostly because there was a version for men to read, too. The author made some valid points (stuff I kind of figured was already going on in my husband’s brain) but some of his assumptions were a little annoying. The way he talks about women can seem demeaning at some points. There was one occasion when the author claims that “all pregnant women are excited about this new chapter in their lives and even at the early stages of the pregnancy are ready to jump into motherhood.” Um… not so much. I’m terrified. I’m more worried that I’m eating the wrong thing, not doing enough to prep my body for labor, doing too much to prep for labor, I’ll screw the kid up because I didn’t buy the “right” kind of diapers, or I’ll gain way too much weight and it will never come off. I’m more than ¾ of the way through the book and homeboy hasn’t addressed any of those feelings or how to help a husband help his pregnant and bat-shiz crazy wife. Its mostly: ‘let your wife buy whatever she wants” or “just bring her ice cream” to help when hormones strike. Last time I checked, not all women were like the comic strip character, Cathy.

How did this happen, you ask? Well, if you need to know, then you obviously didn’t take biology in junior high. Oh, you mean how did this come about for me and Huff the Hubs? Ah, I’ll tell you.

Last fall, we were talking about babies (Huff the Hubs had Baby Fever big time). So, we decided I’d go off birth control at the end of October. It took a month for the meds to get out of my system and then I got pregnant in December! But we didn’t about it for a few weeks.

On New Year’s Eve, Huff the Hubs and I went downtown to get paperwork for our passports. (We’ve been planning on taking a trip to Europe in the spring). As we were walking around downtown, I (T.M.I.) burped and spit out some food.

That was weird; I thought to myself, but didn’t think much of it and chewed some gum.

After we left the county clerk’s office, we walked around for a little while and my nose wrinkled up in disgust. “Babe, do you smell that? What is that?” I asked Huff the Hubs.

“What? I don’t smell anything,” he said (his normal response when there’s a questionable stench…).

Again, I didn’t think much of it.

When we got in the car, I started feeling a little queasy. Then, it dawned on me. Holy crap. I might be pregnant. I’m taking a test the second we get home.

I didn’t tell Huff the Hubs; I didn’t want to get his hopes up. When we got back to the apartment, I went straight to the bathroom. In our house—since it’s just the two of us—we don’t close the door. So after I took the test, I washed my hands and saw Huff the Hubs’ reflection in the bathroom mirror as he walked by. He looked at the sink, did a double take, and his eyes went wide.

He came over and picked up the test. “Two lines! Two lines!” he said, jumping up and down.

“What? Really?!” I said, taking the test in my hand. Two lines. There they were. That’s when the realization hit me: I’m going to be someone’s mom!

Here was my thought process in that moment: Holy crap. I’m pregnant. There’s a baby inside me! A human is growing INSIDE me right now! A baby! A little baby! OMG, I’m going to get fat! What if labor hurts? What if we have twins? OMG, twins?! I’m pregnant! Holy crap!

After the initial shock wore off, I felt a lot more at peace. Right now, I’m about 7 weeks along. I’ve got some morning sickness—which is misleading. My “morning sickness” lasts all. Freaking. Day. It’s gotten better over the past few days (plus I got some meds) and I’m hoping that it goes away soon.

My mind is still trying to wrap around the fact that soon, I’m going to be holding a little version of Huff the Hubs and I. I’m nervous, excited, and terrified. And, lucky you, you get to experience it all with me! (I promise to not let some stories be too graphic). For now, I’m off to add more stuff to our baby’s Think Geek registry!

I know, I know… Its called Fan Girl Friday. And as much as I love alliterations, I have something else planned for tomorrow and not a dang thing planned to blog about today. So, Fan Girl Friday becomes Fan Girl Thursday.

A portable movie theater! You know, because travel DVD players are so 2009.

Are you one of those people that like to show thousands of vacation photos to others, despite audible sighs of exasperation? No? Just me? Hmm… Well I guess I should rejoice, because now I can show my pics of Harry Potter world to an entire room of people at once! All I need is this awesome projector from Microvision.

Swaddle-droid.

How adorable is this R2D2 baby quilt?! So cute I’m considering learning how to sew. My only hope (see what I did there?) is that it also makes noises like the original droid.

Our love is intergalactic.

I only wish that when Huff the Hubs and I got married, we were able to get these! I love the quotes and how the middle part looks like a Death Star. {Sigh} Nerd love is the best.

Learn to make crumpets even the Dowager would love.

I. NEED. THIS. BOOK. Seriously. I have the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook and the Star Wars Cookbook! This would go great with my recipe collection! With this book, you can learn how to make such delicacies as Lady Mary’s Crab Canapes and Mrs. Patmore’s Christmas Pudding! Not only that, but each recipe also gives etiquette tips so you won’t get the stink-eye from Carson for using the wrong fork.

…for about fifteen minutes.

Ah, dial-up. I do not miss you. Its so weird to me to think that kids today have no idea what dial-up is or that Mariah Carey was married before Nick Cannon. If you want to show your age, er, I mean, world experience, you can don this shirt from Skreened. And if that doesn’t make you look older than Reeboks, just carry a Walkman with a cassette of New Kids on the Block singing Covergirl.

Since I work from home, you’ve heard me say that I tend to listen to DVDs of my favorite sitcoms during the day. As I was working this afternoon, I looked up to laugh at the silliness of Sheldon and Amy Farrah Fowler. Then I started thinking: these people live in Pasadena and go out to eat almost every single night. Plus, Leonard and the guys spend a lot of dough on sci-fi memorabilia and Penny is almost always talking about new shoes she’s bought. Which made me wonder…

How can their characters afford this style of living?

“We may have to sell these Batman comic books if I want to go to Comic Con this year.”

Come to think of it, I often wondered the same thing about Friends. Monica and Rachel lived in a really spacious apartment in New York City. Rachel was a waitress for a few years and, let’s face it, probably didn’t make the best money because every time she was on the clock, she was talking with her friends or listening to Phoebe sing. Also, Monica was unemployed for quite a few episodes and so was Joey! Phoebe had to make minor coin massaging and singing in subway tunnels. The only people that probably made good money were Chandler and Ross.

How I Met Your Mother is sort of a different story. Marshall’s a lawyer, Lily’s a teacher, Robin’s on a network news station, Ted’s an architect, and Barney….well, Barney’s a lot like Chandler; I’m not sure what he does.

Even the girls on Two Broke Girls have a pretty big apartment! The only show that really exhibits truth in its characters financial means would have to be The Honeymooners. Ralph was a bus driver; Alice sometimes did work as a secretary, and lived in a run-down apartment in Brooklyn.